Irish Language Lesson #1

Alrighty friends and neighbors, we're going to do the old Sesame Street drill... Today's word is "céilidh." Say it with me now. Do you think you can? OK, here's the pronunciation: "kay-lee." How'd we get that, then? Don't ask...

Anyways, a céilidh is a fancy (that is, Irish/Scottish Gaelic) term for a party or other fun type of event; however, a céilidh nearly always involves dancing. I had the pleasure of attending just such a céilidh yesterday evening, where I danced the night away to traditional Irish music. Quite a bit of fun, really. The dances had some pretty elaborate names: this Irish fellow was teaching all of the international students old céilidh dances like "The Walls of Limerick" and "The Seige of Ennis" (which, if I may say so, definitely sounded like "The Sage of Venice" when I heard the guy say it in his thick Irish accent). As this same fellow said, the Irish "dance from the waste down." Hence the Riverdance focus on the crazy tapping and kicking movements of the legs. Most of the dances at the céilidh involved this kicking/tapping combination, usually with a two rows of two, three, or four dancers facing each other.

Ah, yes. There was much kicking, much tapping, and much spinning and changing positions. But the strangest dance was definitely this little number known as the "Waves of Tory." In this dance, two long lines of people (one of all girls, the other all guys, preferably) did the typical kicking and tapping and moving back and forth for a bit - but there's a catch. Once this is over, the two lines march around, duck under an arch formed by the lead couple, and reform the line. But wait... there's more! Each couple then joins one hand to form their own mini-arch and then moves up and down the line going over and under the other couples, which, apparently, is meant to emulate the very waves that the dance is named after. No worries if you can't picture this; I hardly could, and I was watching it and then doing it! It was certainly a good time, though.

For anyone who's interested, I can teach an Irish dance class when I get to the states... I'll definitely need the money after the exchange rate over here!

Alright, a good night to one and all! With luck, I'll have another post for you soon!